Index for abstracts of conveyances and other records affecting land-titles.



A. W. ESTES. INDEX FOR ABSTRACTS OF CONVEYANGBS AND OTHER RECORDS AFFECTING LAND TITLES APPLICATION FILED 00119, 1906v 1,01 1,765. Patented Dec. 12, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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INDEX FOR ABSTRACTS OF CONVEYANCES AND'OTHER RECORDS TITLES.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, .Anrenosn lV. Esrns, a citizen of the United States, residing at Yellville, in the county of Marion and State of Arkansas, have invented new and useful Improvements in Indexes for Abstracts of conveyances and other Records Aif'ecting- Land-Titles, of whichthe followin'gls a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in indexes of the type adapted for use in keeping records of conveyances and other instruments which affect title to landand other property, and it has for its object to provide an index of this character which is capable of containing a concise but complete reference to all of the various records in the recorders olhce as well as court. or

other records whereby all transactions af fecting the title of lands may be immediately located, and while the index is full and-complete, it-at the same time simple and of such a nature that itmay be provided at small cost of time and money and,

moreover, the making of abstracts can be accomplished more completely and rapidly and furthermore in a more reliable way than. can be accomplished in any of the knownbodies a grantees index.

The systems heretofore used for indexing instruments aifecting land titles have been of a more or less elaborate character, containinga brief abstract of all conveyances and records affecting title to property in the county for which they are compiled. The

costand labor in preparing and maintain ingsuclrrecords has, however, been. very great and it' has, therefore, required considerable capitalto initiate a system of such character. According to the presentinvention,ho'wever, the cost and labor involved in initiating andmaintaining. a record of'all transact-ions or instruments affecting land-- titles is, reduced, reliability is insured. and

AMBROSE W. ESTES, OE YELLVILLE, ARKANSAS.

arrnc'rme LAND- Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec. 12, 1911,

Application filed October 19, 1909.

Serial No. 523,479.

the work involved in examining land titles is materially facilitated.

According to the presentinvention, abook in the form of one or more'volumes c0inbined preferably by a loose leafbinder is employed, certain pages of the book containing plats of the various sections of a township, each plat being immediatelypreceded. by an index which corresponds to and isof a form to receive entries of all instru- .ments affecting land situated in that particular section. By using the loose,'lea f binder, pages maybe added as necessary. to l the page so as to leave a space 2 for theentry of data relating to transfers of title to lands located in that particular section but which cannot be designated by the usual descriptive characters, the page being preferably ruled and being headed Irregular.

descriptions. The diagram is preferably ruled in the usual manner by horizontal and vertical lines which form squares of regular sizes andeac-h plat preferably represents a subdivisional forty-acre tract.

Fig. 2 shows what I may term a subdivi sional index, each of these indexes being-in the form of a page Which immediately precedes the corresponding plat, the index as shown in Fig. 2 being PlOVldGd'Wltll a head mg adapted toreceive the numbers of the.

section, township and range. This sectional index isrule d horizontally so that the data pertaining to the entries for each instrument or transactioirare made in a horizontal row; This sectional index is also ruled vertically to form three adjacentcolum'ns 3, a and'5,

which receive entries respectively of the number of the book andthe page thereof containing the instrument, and the character of the instrument affecting a particular transaction. This sectional index is also ruled vertically to form columns 6 and 7 to receive the names respectively, of the grantor and the grantee. Immediately to the right of the column 7 for the grantees names, the page is ruled vertically to form four main columns 8 which are preferably designated NE, NW, SW and SE, corresponding to the northeast, northwest, southwest and southmediately to the right 'if the columns to re-- ceive characters designating in what portion of the section the land affected is located, I provide a column 10 headed Acres, in which column entries may be made showing the number of acres contained in the property afiected by the instrument.

book.

The main divisions 8 and their subdivisions refer by the usual or well known characters to the common descriptions which may be readily located upon the plat. It sometimes happens, however that property cannot be described, owing to its peculiar location, by

the common or usual characters or designations, and for this reason I provide a supplemental column 11 headed Irregular descriptions, this column being adapted to receive an entry of an arbitrary character which will be entered upon the ruling of the plat page, Fig. 1, underthe heading Irregular descriptions. A column 12 is pro.- vided to the right of the column 11 and is subdivided and appropriately headed to receive entries of the month, day and year corresponding to the date of the instrument. A column 13 may be provided at the right of the column 12- and headed Remarks, this column being adapted to receive any additional data which it may be found desirable to enter respecting the instrument.

Fig. 3 represents a page from a grantees index and it may be either bound in the same book with the plat pages and the sectional indexes or it may be contained in a separate Each grantees index page is ruled horizontally so that entries pertaining to instruments afi'ecting the title of one grantee, may be continued in the same horizontal line. Each granteesi-ndex page is also ruled vertically to provide a column 14 in which are adapted to he entered the names of the grantees named in the instruments, and at the left of the column 14 a column 15 is Each ofcility upon the reverse side of the sheet or upon the following page which, of course, has its horizontal rows correspondingly numbered. At the right of the column 14, the page is ruled vertically to form spaces 16, which spaces are preferably printed in blank, as shown, to receive entries describing-the character of the instrument, the book and page thereof containing the instrument, and immediately beneath the blank printing just described, spaces are preferably left to receive description by appropriate characters of the location of the property on the plat affected by the instrument. The date which the instrument bears may also be entered in each space.

An abstr'actor in making an abstract by the aid of an index embodying the present invention, turnsthe pages of the book to the section in which such property to be ab stracted is located, and notes the books and pages and other information which he finds i'ndorsed upon the sectional index page of Fig. 2 and the plat of Fig. 1. The abstractor thereby obtains such data as will enable him to locate the original record which contains the instrument. In order to determine what property is owned by a particular individual, the grantee'p index, Fig. 3, is used,

allv instruments whereby such individual ob-v tains title to property being entered to the right of such individuals name. Itis obvious that .a further subdivision of the sec tions maybe made to facilitate entry and reference to instruments affecting town lots, in which case a plat similar to Fig. l and a town lot index-similar to Fig. 2, would be used.

By using a plat of the kind above de- A scribed in combination with an index to.

contain entries of all instruments affecting property located in said plat, said index containing columns to receive characters which designate the location of the property upon the plat, it is obvious that when an instrument is found affecting certain property contained inthe plat, such property can be immediately located by noting the location heading contained at the top of such column and conversely, after property has been located upon the plat, it may be quickly determined wlicther there are any instruments relation to the headings and designating numerals in the columns upon the grantors index, as shown in Fig. 2. A transfer affecting land located in any part of the section represented by this plat may be instantly located by following down the appropriate column-in the grantors index to determine whether an entry is made in such column, and by reference to the plat, the relative location of the land affected by such a transfer can be instantly determined. This plat index is adapted to have outlined within the appropriate square land of an irregularly defined area, and if such irregularly defined area cannot be definitely desig-.

nated by one of the headings of the grantors index, then a special character may beapplied to the irregularly defined area on the plat, and an appropriate entry may be made in the space provided upon the balance of the sheet containing the plat and under the heading Irregular descriptions. It "will therefore be seen that the plat and the grantor s index correspond with one another but one indicates the relative location of such lands as may be affected by the different transfers, while the grantors index contains the name of the grantor, the grantee, the location of the land affected by the transfer, and other data relating to such transfer and abstracts may be prepared with the *eatest facility and accuracy by consulting both the plat and the index. The gra tees index is. to be used in conjunction with the grantors index, the grantees index enabling an abstractor to quickly determine all property owned by a given individual in a certain section. I

I claim as my invention:

1. A device for facilitating the entry and examination of instruments affecting land titles embodying a platcontaining a diagram of a tract of land, the diagram being divided into main areas and subdivisions thereof having identifying characters, in combination with a plat index having vertical lines which divide it into main columns which equal in number the number of main areas of the plat, said main columns being subdivided by intersecting horizontal and vertical lines forming subdivisional columns appropriately designated to receive entries of data pertaining to instruments affecting land situated in said diagram, the 'subdivisional vertical columns of the plat index ing divided into main areas and subdivisions thereof having identifying characters, in combination with a plat index having lines forming main vertical columns which equal innumber the number of main areas of the plat, said main columns having intersecting horizontal and vertical lines forming subdivisional columns appropriately designated to receive entries of data pertaining to instruments affecting land situated in the plat, said subdivisional columns provided with headings arranged according to the different subdivisions of the diagram, said headings being composed of characters like the identifying characters on the subdivisions of thediagram, said charactersfor the subdivisional columns Serving to denote what particular subdivisions of the plat are afi'ected by the instruments.

3. A device for facilitating the entry and examination of instruments afi'ecting land titles embodying a plat sheet containing a diagram of a tract of land, said diagram being divided into main areas and subdivisions thereof having identifying characters, in combination with a plat index having vertical lines forming main columns which equal in number the number of main areas of the plat, said main columns having intersecting horizontal and vertical lines forming subdivisional columnswhich are appropriately designated to receive entries of data-pertaining to instruments affecting land situated in the plat, the main and subdivisional vertical columns being provided with headings composed of characters which are individual to the respective vertical columns and like the identifying characters for the main areas and subdivisions of the diagram.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

AMBROSE w. ESTES.-

WVitnesses:

ELMER OWENS, A. G. FLIPPIN. 

